meaning to stitch 8

 after posting slow beginnings i shared where i am in the Makers Membership group and Ruth left some helpful comments which led to me doing some thinking:

R -This is coming together really nicely. I like the white on white. Grouping the letters in some way is a good idea and family groups would work. Are there any other ways of grouping the data that might work? Also why have you chosen linear arrangement? Are there other layouts that might reflect other elements of the story ? Ruth

me - interesting questions .... mmmmm? 

R -why have you chosen linear arrangement?

me - my plan was simply to stitch the initials in a spiral line going around and down the skirt of the christening gown - no particular reason, simply a lack of imagination on my part - this is a good opportunity to re-think, before i am too invested in this approach

i was stitching the initials in this way as a background which was meant to be partly hidden – hence white on white and stitching on the reverse

R - Are there any other ways of grouping the data that might work?

     Are there other layouts that might reflect other elements of the story ?

me - at this stage i have not gathered much by way of a "story" about this list of names to reflect

the aim is to create a piece in response to family secrets, among which are the family's ownership of the slaves who were their household servants and worked in their sugar plantations - my idea was just to acknowledge the names i have as a form of tribute to their lives and the contribution they made to my family's development

unfortunately i am not sure how accurate this is as data, these are the names that were listed, but they were notoriously unreliable records - plantation owners had various reasons for being selective about how accurately they reported their ownership of slaves

to group the initials in a more meaningful way would involve more research into the lives of these people

at the moment I am reluctant to try to go deeper into the situation of these people as it is not the focus of the piece and this is a sensitive issue that deserves attention in it's own right – something I could revisit at a later stage

 if and when i decide to make something in response to the lives of the slaves that will be the time when i look deeper and consider other ways to use the information (data)  - for this piece my focus is on secrets and how they affect a family so I feel it is appropriate to acknowledge this secret in a subtle way as part of the background – I feel I need to keep that at the front of my mind as I am easily sidetracked

Ruth's questions have prompted me to rethink why i was doing it this way and i now feel more confident that this is the right approach for this piece - but i am glad she prompted me to stop and give it more thought - i will be unpicking what i have done so far and start again, this time keeping the initials in what i see as family groups, even though that is partly conjecture on my part as the records do not consistently note family relationships and spellings are erratic